Kiln for bricks



July 10, 1951 CLARK 2,559,595

KILN FOR BRICKS Filed Nov. 6, 1945 Patented July 10, 1951 KILN FOR BRICKS John R. Clark, Silver Spring, Md., assignor of one-half to Thomas Somerville, III, Kenwood,

Md., trustee Application November 6, 1945, Serial No. 627,008

The invention here involved is a brick kiln and this application is a continuation in part of my prior application on a kiln for brick and other clay products filed March 22, 1939, Serial Number 263,507, which has became Patent No. 2,399,664.

After extensive use of the circular kiln, illustrated in application Serial No. 263,507, and after further experimentation, it has been found that the phenomenal results obtained with said kiln may be materially augmented by providing kiln hoods which, in addition to being mobile around the track of the kiln, may also be elevated; this, in addition to other advantages, permits the immediate remedying of hood jamming caused by casually displaced bricks, through the simple expedient of raising the hood from the track by hoist means which forms a part of the hood.

It is also within the teaching of this improvement to substitute temporary or movable partitions for permanent or stationary walls, permitting the kiln floors to be loaded more rapidly, in that the ware conveyor, used for carrying the brick from the ware forming unit to the kiln floor, may be successively orbitally moved from one kiln floor compartment to another without the necessity of reacting the conveyor.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a circular brick kiln equipped with movable partitions to afford maximum flexibility in brick manufacture resulting in increased efficiency in processing the brick especially in tiering the green ware.

The present flexible system also permits the use of a kiln of any size employing a single hood through which gases or other processing media are passed and drawn downwardly and the processing continued, as now known in the art, until the predetermined end point is attained.

It has also been found from experiment, and is an object of this invention, to provide a hood, the side walls of which slant inwardly from their bases toward the tops to efiect a wedge fit with the tiered brick, the seal of which is simultaneously broken throughout the contacting surface area of the hood immediately upon elevation of the latter.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the present preferred form of the invention wherein;

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of a brick kiln constructed in accordance with the present invention showing the firing and peep openings in the hood walls and also illustrating,

6 Claims. (Cl. 25-132) 2 in side elevation, the hoist means for the hood; and

Figure 2 is also a transverse sectional view of the kiln showing a partition wall in side elevation and in elevated position, in conjunction with a ware conveyor, extending from a ware forming unit, the latter being shown fragmentarily.

In the drawing I have illustrated a kiln floor 3 which is uniplanar and is provided with a hood seal groove i and a track groove 5. The hood seal groove is provided with sand or other suitable sealing means 6. The track groove 5 has a track I mounted therein of conventional design.

The hood of the present invention is generally designated 8 and includes side walls 9 preferably made of fire brick each wall having a firing opening ii! and a peep opening ll formed therein. The side walls 9 are disposed at an inclination, converging inwardly toward their upper margins, and rabbeted as indicated at l2 to receive the lateral margins of the top or crown is of the hood. The hood also includes a frame Hi which supports the carriage apparatus [5, the apparatus including flanged wheels I6, which engage the tracks l. The carriage l5 has suitable hoisting mechanism l1 superimposed thereon which is preferably hydraulic. The hoisting mechanism includes bars is engaged with the outer faces of the sides of the hood. The lower ends of the frame Iii likewise engage flanges 19 which pend directly beneath the side walls 9 of the hood as illustrated in Figure 1.

It is apparent from the above that the hood may be moved on the track 1 at the option of the user axially of the floor 3. Also the hood may be raised vertically by operation of the hoisting mechanism [7.

It is also within the contemplation of this invention to provide partitions which, instead of being stationary, as taught in my application S. N. 263,507, may be movable axially along the surface of the kiln floor and vertically above said floor. In order to illustrate the application of the mobility of the partition, I have in Figure 2 illustrated a fragment of the ware-forming unit 28 and in addition have shown in this view an endless ware conveyor 2!, the outer terminal of which is above the floor 3 of the kiln. This figure also illustrates a portion of the housing 22 of the kiln with which is engaged suitable partition hoisting apparatus generally designated '23. The hoisting apparatus in the present instance is shown to consist of cables and pulleys, the pulleys being pendently carried from a first part 24 of the housing. The cables after having been trained over the pulleys are engaged with eyes 25 which extend upwardly from the top of a partition wall 26. The partition wall 26 is tapered so as to conform to the configuration of the hood. When the partition is on the floor of the kiln, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2, its sides are contiguous to the inner faces of the side walls 3 of the hood forming a seal for a purpose well known in the art. When the par tition is in an elevated position, as shown by the full lines in Figure 2, it is obvious that the ware conveyor 2| may be orbitally moved in order to consecutively serve compartments going to make up the completed circular or continuous kiln. This eliminates the necessity of retracting the conveyor 2| when it is desired to place the outlet end thereof in operative proximity to the floor of an adjacent kiln compartment.

Although the mechanism 23 is herein illustrated for the purpose of hoisting the partition wall 2%, it is nevertheless to be understood that this wall may also be moved axially over the surface of the kiln floor. In this way, the compartments may be expanded or contracted at the wish of the operator.

t is also within the teaching of this invention to employ a single hood with terminal walls, the sides of which are provided with firing openings precisely as illustrated in Figure 1. Downdraft may, in this way, be efiected in a manner known in the art. When this medium of processing the brick is employed, the bricks are of course tiered so that the heat will flow downwardly with facility. During this cycle, there is considerable resistance to any horizontal movement of the products of combustion whereby variation in the intensity and volume of the flow is possible. I'his permits processing of the ware through the different stages without using partitions.

I have found it to be desirable under certain conditions to provide a seal between the tiered brick and the hood. The vertically converging walls effects this result and gives the further desirable effect of immediately breaking the seal as soon as the hood has been elevated even as much as a fraction of an inch. It is also desirable that the floor upon which the brick is tiered and also beyond the sides of the hood be in the same plane, and that the carriage in its entirety be above the floor surface as shown in Figure 1. Especially is this true where hoist apparatus is employed as in the prevent invention. It is equally of importance in the present invention that, in conjunction with permitting axial and vertical movement of the hood, the partitions when employed, be likewise capable of vertical displacement under control of the operator and permitted axial movement along the surface of the kiln floor.

While I have herein described the preferred form of the invention, I am nevertheless aware that various changes may be made within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. An improvement in brick kilns comprising a 4 kiln floor, hood and partition, the hood being movably mounted on the floor, and means engaged with the hood for elevating the latter from the floor independently of said partition.

2. An improvement in brick kilns comprising a kiln floor, hood and partition, the hood and partition being independently movable along the surface of the floor and independently vertically movable upwardly from the floor.

3. An improvement in brick kilns comprising a kiln floor, a hood movably mounted on said floor, the side walls of the hood gradually converging toward their upper terminals and a partition mounted on said floor, the margins of the partition, which contact the sides of the hood, conforming to the configuration of the latter, to formaseal.

4. An improvement in brick kilns comprising a kiln floor, a hood movably mounted on said floor, the sidewalls of the hood gradually converging toward their upper terminals, a partition mounted on said floor, the margins of the partition, which contact the sides of the hood,

conforming to the configuration of the latter to form a seal, and means for raising the partition from the floor of the kiln.

5. An improvement in brick kilns comprising an annular kiln door, a plurality of wheeled hoods movable for positioning over any part of the kiln floor, each hood having two upwardly converging sides and a top, means for individually raising said hoods from the floor, a plurality of partitions for cooperating with said hoods and the kiln floor to form brick treating chambers, the partitions being movable axially on and vertically from the floor.

6. An improvement in brick kilns comprising a kiln floor, hood and partition, the hood and partition being independently movable along the surface of the floor and independently movable upwardly from the floor, the side walls of the hood and partition converging toward their upper terminals, the margins of the partition contacting the sides of the hood to form a seal.

JOHN R. CLARK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 16,634 Fuller May 24, 1927 233,402 Kandeler Aug. 21, 1883 1,560,618 Stevens Nov. 10, 1925 1,749,866 Winzer Mar. 11, 1930 2,003,450 Ladd June 4, 1935 2,277,764 Kissinger Mar. 31, 1942 2,399,664 Clark May '7, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,223 Austria 1889 

